Hey everyone.
I just realized if I want to add new attacks to the brothers' arsenal, I will either have to use Google Translate for the names or simply name them in English. I just can't take the time to search all over the web for accurate translations since I really don't have the time and I don't know any reliable kanji translators at all. Unfortunately, those are the two options I am left with.
Hollow speaking or thinking
Zanpakuto Spirit speaking or thinking
Normal speaking or thinking
The sands of Hueco Mundo were not a happy place, but to Tia and her Fracciones, it was home. They had lived their entire afterlife here, the endless night being all they ever knew. But things were different now, and they knew while some things were changed for the better, not all of it was good. Aizen may have brought a sense of order and stability to the dreary world, but it was only a matter of time before he discarded the Arrancars as useless pawns.
As she Sonidoed through the desert, Tia thought back to her past. She had been a Vasto Lorde Hollow wandering the night and she would protect other female Hollows from being consumed by male Hollows. That was how she had met her friends. They had been Adjuchas who were by themselves until she found and brought them together to work as a group to keep themselves safe.
But it was a lonely time and she longed to have someone to care for other than Sung-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apacci. She wanted a companion... no, someone to love, but it seemed that would never happen and the sole female Espada would be doomed to live alone in solitude.
Then Aizen "saved" her and her Fracciones. However, she knew better. When they confronted Baraggan, she felt his spiritual pressure in the area, setting off the alarms in her mind that something wasn't right and the hammerhead Arrancar attacking them after had basically confirmed it. What he had told her after he defeated the Arrancar clued her in to his intentions with them and Tia figured out very quickly that Aizen intentionally gave the Hollow the power he wanted knowing full well what would happen and his false rescue was an excuse to gain her loyalty.
However, she had no choice but to accept his offer since she feared he would cut them down if they refused. He turned her and her followers into Arrancar and they spent their days in the large fortress of Las Noches. It was just as lonely as before and she began to lose hope that she would never have a male companion to be with.
When she first met Bennett in his Inner World, she did not immediately know that he was her soulmate, but she knew the young man was special from the beginning. Eventually, she fell in love with him as he did with her when they continued to meet with each other, but something scared her.
He may have been a hybrid of 3 separate species and still human and she knew that he was different and would accept her for what she was, but she was still worried Bennett would reject her, which was not a nice thought for her. Tia didn't want that to happen, but she couldn't help fearing that he would hate her for being an Arrancar.
But she was more afraid of Aizen killing him. From what the Shark Empress could understand based on what she had heard around Las Noches, Bennett, Ichigo, and Randy were major interests and possibly even experiments of Aizen's and she believed that he had a hand in the circumstances surrounding their family, especially in how the brothers came to be part Hollow. If he no longer found them interesting, Tia knew he might dispose of them.
'No, I can't think of that right now, we must find Nelliel quickly.' She shook her head, discarding such thoughts.
They continued moving for fifteen more minutes until they felt Spiritual Pressures that belonged to three Arrancars nearby. Stopping, they searched the area for any sign of them, but found nothing. "Well, I didn't expect to find her immediately, but we have been looking for quite a bit and still haven't found anything. Where could she be? And who did the spiritual pressures belong to?" wondered Sung-Sun.
"I'm not sure, but they have to be here somewhere." piped up Mila Rose. This was getting frustrating for them.
No sooner than she had said that, they heard a couple of voices and feet running in the sand coming toward them. Looking in the direction it was coming from, the Arrancar women saw a group of a small green-haired female Arrancar in rags being chased by a skinny beetle-like male Arrancar and heavyset tiki male Arrancar who were being followed by a large worm Hollow slithering behind them. The girl was crying while she was being chased, which angered Apacci who brought out her Zanpakuto, dashed over to the males, and smacked them on the head with it.
"Hey! Stop chasing her and making her cry, you jerks! Just who do you think you are making a child cry?!" she roared.
"No, stop! They were chasing Nel in Eternal Tag!" the young child cried out, waving her tiny arms in an effort to get the attention of the older females.
Apacci immediately stopped and looked at her in confusion. "Eternal Tag? But why were you crying then?" she asked.
Nel then smiled a toothy grin. "Oh, Nel is continuing to be chased until Nel starts crying! It's no fun without any pain, because Nel's a masochist!" she exclaimed like she hadn't dropped a metaphorical bomb on them.
Sung-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apacci sweatdropped. "Uh..." They couldn't find the words to describe how they felt at hearing the little girl's proclamation.
Tia, however, was thinking about what the girl called herself. It seemed to be similar to... No, this couldn't be her... but the hair color was right and Nnoitora said it himself that she was in a child-like state because of him... could it? 'Let's test that theory.' "Your name's Nel, right?" she asked, a little unsure of herself.
"Uh huh, Nel's Nel!"
"You wouldn't happen to be Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, my predecessor, would you?"
The miniature Arrancar froze and clutched her head. A flurry of memories came rushing forth and bombarded her mind. "Ugh, Nel's head. That name..." She slowly began remembering her past. It all came back to her; Szayelaporro's experiment, her Fracciones, Nnoitora's attack, her exile, everything.
Her two companions rushed over to her, worried for her. "Nel! Are you alright?" asked the tiki Arrancar. "Speak to us!"
Tia's friends' jaws dropped. "This is her, the former Third Espada?" Mila Rose whispered in disbelief to their leader.
"I believe so. Nelliel, do you know a boy who was special to you? A boy named Randi Kurosaki?" she asked, hoping to confirm her theory.
The girl said a single word, "Randy." A poof of pink smoke appeared, engulfing her and the Arrancar. The Espada and her followers waited patiently to see what would happen.
When the smoke cleared, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck stood in her adult form, opening her eyes to see the female Arrancar looking at her. She turned to her two companions and hugged them. "Thank you for keeping me happy and protecting me all this time, Pesche, Dondochakka. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Master Nelliel." said Pesche.
"So you are my successor." Nelliel confirmed.
"Yes, My name is Tia Halibel, Third Espada. These are my Fracciones, Sung-Sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose. We have much to talk about concerning some issues currently, namely Aizen and our soulmates." Tia explained. 'This might take a little bit of time to explain to her.'
"So what is this about, Kisuke?" asked Randy. The four Soul Reapers had gathered in the Urahara Shop per Urahara and Rukia's request. Rukia had asked them at school to meet there because Kisuke had something that would help them in their duties around Karakura Town.
"Rukia decided it was necessary to give you these." He held out three small candy dispensers to each of them. "They're Soul Candy, they are designed to get you into your soul form without the use of Rukia's special glove. Basically they are Artificial Souls to stay in your body while you do your jobs. Be careful though, these ones are special because they are different from regular Soul Candy, in fact they are Mod-Souls which are enhanced for battle."
"WHAT?! You're giving them Mod-Souls? Urahara, that's dangerous and if Soul Society realizes that they're not regular Artificial Souls, they'll destroy them. Central 46 decreed that Operation Spearhead, the project that created them, was too inhumane and shut it down," shouted Rukia. "They said it was cruel to place them inside deceased human corpses for them to fight Hollows. That's why they destroyed all the Mod-Souls ever produced."
Kisuke flipped open his fan to hide his smirk. "Miss Kuchiki, Central 46 has been known to make prejudicial, biased, and/or foolish decisions before. So I don't exactly trust the government a whole lot. Besides, the Mod-Souls' personalities have been changed to mimic or at least be close to the Kurosakis', albeit with enough differences between them to tell them apart just in case., as well as the fact that they will work better than regular Artificial Souls to protect the boys' bodies."
The brothers each popped a candy in their mouths and were transported out of their bodies in their Soul forms. They looked at their bodies and saw them standing upright with their usual expressions on their faces.
Ichigo looked at his body and it scowled at him. "What are you looking at?!" it growled.
He smirked. "You really outdid yourself, Kisuke. Alright, you, my friend, need a name. You're your own person, so you gotta be called something. I think I'll call you Kon."
Bennett said to the Mod-Soul in his body, "Your name shall be Hasashi."
Randy was in thought till he snapped his fingers. "Got it, you're now Hikaru."
The Mod-Souls looked happy at their new names. Then the brothers entered back into their human bodies. "Alright, Hat-and-Clogs, we gotta jet. It's that day today." Ichigo said. They gained a somber look and began walking out the shop to return home.
Kisuke looked down in remembrance and understanding. "I know. Go be with your family, we can continue talking another time."
Randy thanked him and said, "Rukia, go ahead and ask Kisuke about that blue arrow that took out that Hollow that tried ambushing us, we'll get the details later." He cast the perverted man a meaningful look that spoke volumes about what Urahara should and should not tell the Kuchiki princess. Then he followed his brothers out the door.
Rukia followed her friend's advice and told Kisuke, "While we were finishing up dealing with Shrieker, a Hollow appeared from its hiding spot and tried getting the jump on us. However, a blue arrow came out of nowhere and killed it while it was still in the air. We don't know where the projectile came from or who fired it, but from what I could tell, the arrow completely destroyed the Hollow instead of purifying it. Do you know anything about who might have had something to do with it?"
He sighed. "The shooter could have only been a Quincy, no doubt about it." The ex-Squad 12 captain looked expectantly at Rukia to see if she could recognize the name.
"Quincy? I'm not familiar with the term."
"The Quincies were a race of spiritually aware humans that hunted Hollows just as Soul Reapers do. There are a few key differences, however. A Quincy is able to absorb and manipulate Reishi to create weapons. They also exterminate Hollows, they don't purify them and they do that because Hollows are poisonous to Quincies. Finally, instead of wearing black shihakusho, they are dressed in white priest-like clothing. They used to be abundant prior to about two hundred years ago."
"What happened?" asked Rukia. This was new information to her, mostly because it was before her time as a Soul Reaper
"Well, the Quincies believed that they should be the ones to defend the World of the Living and be the first line of defense against Hollows, but Soul Society couldn't accept that for a major reason: The Balance of Souls. When a Quincy destroys a Hollow, it doesn't get sent to Soul Society, the Soul is just gone from existence and the Cycle of Rebirth. This eventually happened so often that Soul Society tried to get the Quincies to cease their actions as they greatly disrupted the Balance of Souls, but they refused. So the Quincy race was killed off to preserve the Balance. That happened nearly two hundred years ago. There are some still left in existence, however, they are extremely small in number." finished Urahara.
Rukia was speechless. "Woah. So this Quincy may have a grudge against us just because we are Soul Reapers, I'll tell Randy, Ichigo, and Bennett to be careful." She thanked Urahara and left the store.
The Kurosaki family walked to the local cemetery in order to pay their respects for their matriarch. It wasn't a long walk, but the invisible weight on their shoulders made it seem much longer than it was. Six years had passed since Masaki was killed and they were used to not having her around anymore, but that didn't make it any better to deal with and the memory was especially painful for Ichigo as he had been with their mother the night she died.
Isshin tried to make the mood a little lighter by goofing off somewhat and Yuzu giggled a little at his actions, but Karin just socked him in the stomach in annoyance. The boys ignored the commotion, not caring if he got hit.
They walked ahead when they saw they were close, their family following behind. They reached the cemetery and walked through the rows of graves, finally stopping when the boys saw the one they were here for.
They looked at the headstone and sighed. Isshin came up behind them and put a hand on Ichigo and Randy's shoulders, attempting to comfort them.
"Boys, your mother would be proud of the men you are today. Don't ever forget that, she wouldn't want you being sad over her death and not living your lives to the fullest." he said, patting them
"Thanks, dad. We appreciate it." Bennett thanked their father. Isshin may have been a complete child at times, but they knew that even he could be serious when the situation called for it.
"Besides, if you didn't live your lives, then you wouldn't be able to give me grandchildren with your soulmates!" He grinned and gave a thumbs up to his sons.
"Damn it, you crazy old goat! Not that again!" they groaned with Randy punching him in the face and sending him to the dirt.
Okay, they may have been spoken too soon.
He sprang back up and walked to the blanket that Yuzu and Karin had set up nearby along with the special lunch the blonde had made for the occasion like she did every year on this day. The brothers followed him and they all sat down.
Isshin did a small toast to Masaki and they started eating. It was a lively affair, the food was delicious as always, their father told corny and terrible jokes that made Ichigo scowl and Randy and Bennett groan at his stupidity, the only thing that was missing was their mother.
But that was the point of the lunch by her grave, it was to remember her and the good times they shared with her, not to mourn her. They had already moved past that stage and didn't want to go back to it no matter what happened.
A couple of hours later, they had finished the food and packed up to head home. They were just about to leave when Bennett saw Rukia motioning to them from the treeline and nudged his brothers who looked up and also saw her.
"Hey old man, there's a classmate we have to catch up with. Go ahead and start heading on back, we'll come home later." Ichigo explained.
Isshin looked up and saw Rukia. He understood immediately and said, "Alright, that's fine." He, Yuzu, and Karin began to leave the cemetery.
Ichigo, Bennett, and Randy walked to where Rukia was waiting and greeted her. She asked, "How was it?"
Bennett said, "It went as expected, although our dad kept acting like a fool the entire time. We may be used to him doing that, but it'll always be annoying." He let out a huff at the end of his sentence, knowing that the elder Kurosaki would never change his ways.
"I'm sorry about your mother. From what I have heard around your house, she must have been an amazing woman. You must miss her very much." said Rukia. All of the brothers looked down at their feet, not wanting to look her in the face.
"Yeah, she really was." murmured Randy. Sometimes it was hard to talk about Masaki in front of other people.
Rukia wanted to know something though. "I don't want to sound insensitive to you three, but was she sick or did an accident happen? " She knew they didn't talk about it, but from what she could understand, it must not have happened from natural causes.
Immediately, the three of them looked up and at each other with an unsaid message being sent between them. Ichigo spoke up, "You helped save our family and have become a good friend of ours so it's only right that you know. To be fair, we never really knew the truth of what happened until recently and I was the last one with her and blamed myself for her death."
Randy cut in, "We told him not to do that to himself, but he didn't listen to us. When Ichigo and our mother were walking home six years ago, Ichigo saw a young girl jump into the river and tried to save her. Then a Hollow attacked them. She protected Ichigo with her body, keeping him from harm. But she was not so lucky and she was killed."
The powerless Soul Reaper was shocked. She did not expect that to be the reason their mother wasn't around anymore. "I-I didn't know. I wish you didn't have to go through that at all, you three did not deserve that."
The boys smiled slightly at hearing someone comfort them. "Thank you, Rukia, You're a good friend, we appreciate you trying to comfort us... but it's all in the past. Plus, we might never kill the Hollow that killed her considering we don't know what it looked like." said Bennett.
Rukia's Soul Pager went off a couple seconds after he said that. She pulled it out and looked at the screen. "Hollow entering! It's coming in right... here?" She was confused at the location of the Hollow
The boys pulled out their Soul Candies and popped them into their mouths, knocking them into their Soul forms. "Alright, you know what to do. Kon, Hikaru, Hasashi, keep our sisters away from this." said Bennett.
"Got it." the Mod-Souls affirmed. They quickly left the area to follow the boys' family and keep them safe.
A Garganta opened up in the cemetery and a grotesque Hollow jumped out of the black void of nothingness. It looked around until it settled its eyes on the Soul Reapers and grinned. Rukia recognized the Hollow right away.
"That's not just any Hollow, you three, that's Grand Fisher! He has been terrorizing the World of the Living and killing Soul Reapers for many years, but has never been purified nor has anyone come close to finishing him off! His main targets are women! Be careful!" she shouted.
Grand Fisher was an ugly son of a bitch. He had green fur covering his body and hamster-like hands and feet. An extension sprouted out from the top of his head, similar to a fishing lure. His bone mask's teeth were settled in a hideous smile and red markings in the shape of lips surrounded his teeth.
"That's Grand Fisher? That's the bastard who murdered our mother? Then he won't be living much longer if we have anything to say about it! He dies by our hands today!" screamed Ichigo.
Rukia stumbled at the words she was hearing. 'Wait... they're saying Grand Fisher was the Hollow that killed their mother? No way!' Why didn't they tell her? She would have tried to help them find closure if it was possible.
But the boys didn't wait for her to say anything. They attacked Grand Fisher without hesitation. She screamed in horror, "ICHIGO! BENNETT! RANDY! NO!"
"Do you understand what we are attempting to do, Nelliel?" said Tia to the former Third Espada. She had explained the situation to her predecessor in a lengthy discussion. Now she wanted to know if Nel was onboard with this.
Nel replied, "Yes, I do. And I'm joining you. Aizen may have given us this power, but he is by no means a good person. He expects us to be tools for him and nothing else. Plus, most of the other Arrancars are bloodthirsty, fanatics, twisted in their minds, or characterized with some other negative trait and I cannot stand being around them." Going unsaid between the both of them was that they wanted to see their confidantes again.
Tia nodded and told her to stay in a close, but not too close, proximity to Las Noches so that if they had to get out fast, they could meet up quickly and open a Garganta to Karakura Town in order to escape. She also told Nel that the next time she talked with Bennett, she would reveal the truth of what she was and who they were defecting from and that Nel should do the same.
The two groups parted ways with each other and headed back the way they came. Tia and her Fracciones went back to Las Noches while Nel and her comrades headed in another direction to a different part of Hueco Mundo.
During the journey, Sung-Sun asked, "You really love the boy you were telling Master Nelliel about, don't you?"
"More than anything, Sung-Sun. Let's get back to the fortress before the other Espada begin questioning why we were gone."
While Karin was walking with her family back to their house, she began thinking, 'What did I see that night? I know I saw something. I'm not certain, but for a moment, I thought I saw Bennett, Randy, and Ichigo in black kimonos holding swords and fighting a masked monster.'
If that was what she saw, then she was worried for her brothers. Karin did not want them to get hurt protecting her and Yuzu, but she somehow knew that they would be just fine.
Hearing a sound coming from behind them, she saw a large furry creature stumbling in the clearing and being attacked by three figures. When she saw the people launching attacks on the monster, her eyes widened.
Blond hair, orange hair, and a multicolored mohawk. The hair could only belong to her brothers. They were slashing at the beast and leaving deep, bleeding wounds on its body. And they were dressed in black kimonos just like before.
She could only look on in shock and awe as they battled the monster and began to trap it in a triangle formation., ready to end its life. 'Get him, you guys.'
Out of the corner of his eye, Bennett saw his younger sister looking at them doing their job. He smirked. "Nowhere to run, Grand Fisher. This is payback, you stupid hamster."
The Hollow was confused at what he said. "For what, Soul Reaper?"
"For killing our mother!" Ichigo roared.
It clicked for Grand Fisher. "You're the sons of that woman I killed! But she wasn't my target, I was going after the redhead because of his spirit energy!"
"...What? So she was just collateral damage to you?! When you could not get to me, you decided to kill her instead! Rrraaaggghhh!"
The Hollow knew he had a very slim chance of getting out alive when Ichigo began raging after he heard what Grand Fisher said, so he resorted to a dirty trick. He revealed a familiar woman to the brothers on his lure...
Masaki Kurosaki.
The image of their mother began to tell them that it would make her sad if they attacked her. They looked down at their feet in response and it looked as if Grand Fisher had found their weakness and would get away cleanly...
SLICE!
Grand Fisher fell backward at the sight of the raven-haired brother slashing through the false manifestation of their mother. He was in absolute shock. "You would slash through your own mother just to kill me?!"
The tallest boy laughed darkly when he said that. "That cheap imitation is not our mother, nice try though. I'm guessing that your lure makes false images of humans to draw your unsuspecting victims in, and then you devour them. That's probably what my brother saw that day by the river, it was your damn lure! Cheap tricks are not going to help you escape Judgement Day for you, Grand Fisher!" he responded.
Randy growled out, "Let's finish him." They rushed him without warning and cut through him, their swords hitting their target. The Hollow vanished into thin air, ending his reign of terror forever. They slumped to their knees, relieved that their mother could finally rest knowing her death had been avenged and her killer destroyed.
Rukia ran up to them, saying, "You guys okay?" They waved off her concerns, telling her they were fine. Treading carefully to not seem rude or uncaring, she asked, "So how are you feeling, knowing that your mother's killer is no longer running about?"
Ichigo sighed. "It feels like we're in a better state of mind knowing that fact, but at the same time, it doesn't change anything. She's still dead and nothing can bring her back." He looked up and gained a small smile as if Masaki was looking down from the heavens and waving to them. "Still, she would be proud of us, of who we are no matter what. And that's good enough for me."
Randy patted his brother's back. "We kept our family safe, Ichigo. Of course she would. She's always with us though, just remember that, bro."
They hopped back into their bodies, but not before promising the Mod-Souls to find a temporary body so they could roam around freely. They caught back up with their family and headed home.
Karin was discreetly stealing glances at Ichigo, Randy, and Bennett the whole way back. She kept thinking how badass they looked destroying that monster and it made her wonder if she also was able to do what they did. They noticed her doing it, but did not understand what it was about and just shrugged.
When they reached home, they had a talk with their father about the events of that afternoon, out of the earshot of the younger Kurosakis. It wasn't long, just enough to discuss it a little bit.
"So you three killed Grand Fisher?" asked Isshin who was curious as to if they felt any better than before.
"Yeah. Hey, Dad? Do you think that she might be in Soul Society? I'm just curious to how it works, would we be able to find Mom there?" questioned Bennett.
The scruffy man held up a hand to stop them. "I figured you might try to ask a question like that. To be honest, I'm not sure, not even Urahara knows for sure and he has an intellect like no other. Your mother's case was unique. According to Kisuke, Quincy souls don't enter the Cycle of Rebirth often, it's rare that this event occurs. It happens because they destroy Hollows and to keep balance, the Cycle, which is controlled by the Soul King, erases the offending Quincy's soul if their kill count is high enough. But remember, your mother was infected by a unusual Hollow that became part of your Zanpakuto and I linked my soul with hers to prevent her from undergoing soul suicide. When she was killed by Grand Fisher, it's possible that her soul was devoured by him and became part of him because she was infected by Hollow spirit energy. If that's true, then when you purified him, all the souls he had consumed were released from his grasp, including your mother's, and sent on to the Soul Society." he finished.
"So if we ever go there, we can talk with her and spend some time together, right?" asked Ichigo. Isshin looked pained when he heard that question and his strawberry blond son noticed. "What's wrong? What aren't you telling us?" Ichigo questioned his father.
"Boys, the thing with the Cycle of Rebirth is that all the souls that are sent on to Soul Society is that they are given a clean slate, although we're not sure about if the same thing happens with souls that become Hollows, and it's extremely rare for a soul to recall their time in the World of the Living, and even these souls don't remember everything about their past lives. But again, what happened to your mother was unusual and unique." He sighed at having to tell something so heartbreaking to his children. "What I am trying to say is that if there is a chance Masaki is in Soul Society, then she may very well not remember who you are."
The brothers looked downtrodden and stared at their feet, some of their hopes squashed likes bugs in the streets. But they held on to a little bit of hope that they might see their mom again someday in Soul Society and she would remember who they were.
"It's okay, but in all honesty, we're going to cling on the tiny bit of hope that she is there and will know us. Gotta have hopes and dreams or else you won't get very far in life, right?" sadly chuckled Randy. He was right about that, achieving a goal or dream could make you do things you never thought you could do or was possible, it was part of what defined who you were as a person.
Bennett dejectedly whispered, "I still miss her though." Then the faux-gangster went up to his for the night without saying another word.
"We all do, and that's never going to change for any of us, bro."
In her soulmate's Inner World, Tia was conversing quietly with Bennett's Zanpakuto spirits, more specifically his stark white doppelganger, about a very important topic that she felt the time had come to tell their partner about: What she was and the man who had, in a sense, "enlisted" her.
The Hollow/Soul Reaper spirit had already figured out what she was based on her spiritual pressure and told the Quincy manifestation about it, making him promise not to reveal it to Bennett until she felt the time was right. They did tell her they knew much earlier than she had realized and assured her that her love wouldn't shun her, even if she used to work for Aizen.
When she asked how they were sure, the bleached copy had smiled and simply said, "You make him happy. Not only that, but just like his brothers, Bennett's unique and you already know how so."
Now she was making the decision to tell him everything, but she was freaking out somewhat. "I don't know if I should do this, you two. I don't want him to react badly to hearing about Aizen and how I was his subordinate, even if I am still in the process of defecting with my friends and Nel. God, I hope she is handling this better than I am."
"Heh, don't fret, Tia. We know how the guy thinks, he looks past a person's looks and affiliations, it won't matter to him that you are an Arrancar or a follower of that bastard. I mean, we are reflections of him after all, so we know what we're talking about. The dumbass may not show it as much as other guys might for their girlfriends, but he cares about you so much and would bear the weight of the sky on his shoulders if it meant seeing you happy and not crying or upset." chirped the redheaded spirit.
Tia gained a small smile at hearing how much she meant to Bennett from his hotheaded Quincy spirit. Then she sported a perplexed look on her face at the exact wording of what he said to her. "I know... but what's with that description of what he would do? It's a little specific... and odd."
He gained a shit eating grin and laughed. "Oh, you picked up on that, did you? There's a book series that Bennett's obsessed with and the main protagonist did that exact feat in one of the books. It's one of the most popular book series ever written. Hey, Shugetsu, I need a dam soda!" he called out to the Hollow spirit, chortling with barely contained amusement.
Shugetsu snickered. He saw where his Quincy counterpart was going with this and he was going to enjoy it. "I want some dam pizza! And a dam hot dog! Hehehe..."
"Hey, let's go to a dam bar, I want to get hammered with some dam shots! HA!"
"And I need a new dam t-shirt, HAHAHAHA!"
The banter slowly evolved into full-blown laughter, with both spirits struggling to breathe. Tia shook her head in exasperation. "I'm guessing that's also from the book series."
Their giggling and laughing finally died down and Shugetsu told her, "Yeah, it's a joke from the third book. Anyways, you ready to tell him?"
She breathed out and made her decision. "I am, wish me luck." She walked to meet Bennett where they usually met in his Inner World.
Contrary to how the current Third Espada was handling her decision, Nel had an easier time with her decision. She had already talked with Ready's spirits and they told her to go ahead and not hide it any longer since they felt she was the best thing to ever happen to him and they knew Randy didn't want to lose her.
She was in the midst of their conversation when she felt it was the right time. "Randy?" she asked. "There's something I need to tell you."
"What's wrong, Nel?" He felt she was about to tell him something important. He had a feeling it had something to do with the mask fragment on top of her head. He startied wondering if she was going to tell him if she used to be a Hollow because, well, her fragment had a striking similarity to a Hollow's mask.
Nel began to fidget with her hands nervously. "Randi, you know I love you. But I haven't told you everything about myself and who I am... what I am." She prepared to get it over with, like ripping off a bandage. "This mask fragment on my head, well, it's the fragment of my mask from when I was a Hollow. Randy, I used to be a Vasto Lorde class Hollow and I lived in Hueco Mundo, the home of all Hollows. A Vasto Lorde didn't need to fear regressing into a lesser, more primal class because it was the highest state of evolution for a Hollow. But a man came to my world some time ago and helped us evolve to a state of higher being using a device called the Hogyoku. Many different Hollows then became Arrancars, Hollows that have achieved human-like forms and gained Soul Reaper powers by removing their masks. This is what I am now, an Arrancar, a Hollow-Soul Reaper hybrid, and so is Tia. I didn't want you to hate me because of my species, I was afraid of you rejecting me and that's why I never told you. Tia fears the same thing with your brother."
"Nel, I already had a suspicion that you used to be a Hollow since the skull on your head was reminiscent of a Hollow's mask and my mentor Kisuke explained about prejudices about you and Tia's species, but it never mattered to me. I love you, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, no matter what you are or used to be." Randy told her, getting rid of her fears.
However, she wasn't finished. She prepared for the last part of her confession. "There's more. The man that helped us evolve, he's a Soul Reaper that wanted to kill the Soul King to change the World of the Living and Soul Society forever. I used to be part of his army and one of his top soldiers, an Espada, the Third Espada in fact. That's what the Arrancars are, his personal army. However, I was attacked and cast out by another Espada, I reverted to the form of a child and lost my memories, but my adult conscience remained locked inside of me and aware of everything. According to Tia, she became my successor as the Third Espada. Meanwhile, I wandered the desert with my former Fracciones for quite a bit of time. That is, until right before we met right now. Tia found me and helped me regain my adult form and memories. She explained to me that she knew the Soul Reaper was only going to use the Arrancars as disposable tools and discard us when we were no longer useful to him, and she wanted to defect to be with Bennett because she was scared that you three would be killed if he believed you were no longer of interest or use to him. And I'm afraid of this too. He's dangerous beyond belief and extremely powerful. His name is—"
"Sosuke Aizen." the blond growled. He knew immediately who Nel was talking about after a little bit into her story.
She looked down in depression. "So you know who he is. This was the other thing I was afraid of telling you, I thought you would think that I was like him and would not want to be around me anymore." She began to tear up a little at the thought.
Once again, Randy proved her wrong. He gave her a hug and lightly kissed her tears away. "That doesn't matter. I can already tell you're not like him, you're kind, gentle, and sweet, he's power-hungry, manipulative, and uncaring. I won't judge you based on what others have done or who you were associated with. Your actions matter much more to me than anything else. Please don't cry anymore, Nel. I don't want to see you cry."
Nel slowly calmed down and they sat down in a patch of grass by the ruins of his Inner World. He pulled her close to him and held her in his arms, staying like that and letting his actions speak for themselves.
"Thank you, Randy. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that." She snuggled into his chest, feeling the warmth of his muscular body.
"You are the world to me. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Tia stood in front of Bennett with her white jacket unzipped and mask fragment showing to him. She had started their usual talk telling him she had to show and tell him something and started unzipping her top. At first he thought she was going to initiate something they both weren't ready for and tried to tell her they were not ready for that yet, then he saw the bone covering her breasts and immediately stopped talking.
He saw her entire face for the first time and thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever met, but that wasn't important right now. Unfortunately, the look on her face said that she felt guilty and ashamed of hiding this from him. "That's part of a Hollow mask, isn't it? Tia, did you used to be a Hollow? If that's why you are looking at me like you're ashamed, then don't be. It doesn't make a difference to me, I don't care about that. You're still the same beautiful girl I first met all those weeks ago." he reassured her, but she still felt like she had betrayed his trust.
Tia said, "Bennett, I never told you what I am. I am an Arrancar, an evolved Vasto Lorde class Hollow that has gained the powers of a Soul Reaper by removing my mask. A Soul Reaper helped us attain this evolved state with a device he invented. I became the replacement in his army for Nel, who was the third strongest, but he only sees us Arrancars as pawns in his game to end the Soul King, and I am afraid of him and don't trust him at all. I want to defect from his side because I want to be with you and the Arrancars are replaceable at any time and disposable to him. I think he also had something to do with you, Randy and Ichigo being hybrids of Soul Reapers, Hollows and Quincies. I never told you any of this because I feared you would hate me simply for being a Hollow and subordinate of the man who had a hand in you being a hybrid, but I don't want to lose you if he decides you're not useful to him anymore."
"The Soul Reaper's name is Sosuke Aizen. I know his name because he's the one that sent the Hollow that infected my mother and gave us our Hollow Zanpakuto. My father explained the circumstances already. It's okay and I'll tell you why. Did you send that Hollow after my parents? No. Are you Aizen? No. Did you kill my mother? No. You're a good person, you've done nothing wrong and if Soul Society says otherwise, then damn them all to Hell. You're the best thing to ever happen to me. I love you, Tia. Don't ever forget that." He grasped her delicate hands in his own and tenderly kissed her forehead.
Tia blushed and wrapped her arms around him. She took his words to heart and made a promise to herself that day: She would always protect the man who saw past what she was and who she was associated with.
No one would hurt him ever again.
No one.
Well, that chapter's complete. Remember to read and review, but no flaming please.
How'd you guys like that little Percy Jackson reference I tossed in there? I thought it'd be funny since Randy and Bennett's Zanpakutos were essentially born from the same Hollow that Ichigo's Zangetsu was and they're kind of the same spirit, just part of three different people, and I personally believe that if the real Zangetsu wasn't suppressed from the start and Ichigo knew who he really was, Zangetsu would have a great sense of humor, so Hollow Shugetsu would think the Dam joke from the Percy Jackson books is downright hilarious and so would Quincy Shugetsu. Just a little humor on my part.
Crash, out